Mark Hemingway

The Supreme Court has sided unanimously with a church sued for firing an employee on religious grounds, issuing an opinion on Wednesday that religious employers can keep the government out of hiring and firing decisions.

In the case of Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, Cheryl Perich, a teacher, argued that the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School of Redford, Mich., had discriminated against her under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Note that Obama's Department of Justice sided against churches in this case, favoring the elimination of the "ministerial exception." Had they won, this would have a dramatic impact on churches and religious schools. Religious institutions would then be forced to fend off lawsuits for preferring to hire employee of their particular faith over employees who are of different faiths or irreligious.